Fake Fine Wines on Rise in China

Bottles of fake wine are destroyed in Nanning. Credit: Reuters

Instances of fake fine wines in China are on the rise, and could grow further following Beijing’s threat to impose anti-dumping tariffs on wines imported from the EU.

Now the world’s fifth largest wine consuming country, Chinese supermarkets and restaurants are under constant threat from counterfeit wines, particularly in second and third tier cities where consumers have less knowledge of fine wines.

More than half of China’s exports in 2012, some 139.5m liters, came from France, with the top names from Bordeaux that offer both bragging rights and higher profit margins tending to be the most frequently faked.

“For a lot of Chinese consumers, the more expensive it is, the more they’ll buy it,” Beijing-based Maggie Wang told Reuters.

“The Chinese will buy the most expensive house and drive the most expensive car. They don’t want the best, they want the most expensive,” she added.